MaddieEllen

1) "Name?"

Maddie.

2) "Age?"

18.

3)" What are your hobbies?"

Mostly writing but I also enjoy singing and playing the ukulele as well as video games once in a while!

4) "When did you start writing and why?"

I started writing more seriously just over three years ago in a really dark time in my life. I was going through a break up along with struggling with some mental health issues. It was a really dark time for me but I distracted myself with my writing and found it to be a great distraction.

5) "Which was your first story generally?"

My first story that I published on here was We Are Astray but I have other completed stories written before then that I never published.

6) "Do you write in some other website except Wattpad?"

No, I haven’t. I absolutely love Wattpad and can’t imagine writing on another app/website!

7) "What has given you motive to keep on writing?"

Writing is my passion and what I feel I was meant to do with my life. The constant love and support from my readers and family helps but honestly, I can’t imagine spending my time doing anything else! To keep writing I just make sure to seek out inspiration and force myself to write just a little bit each day, even if I have writer’s block.

8 )"Have you ever wanted to give up everything? (writing I mean)"

There have been days when I’ve thought about starting over but I’ve never wanted to just stop writing. It gets difficult sometimes when the doubt starts to creep in but then I remember that I genuinely enjoy what I’m writing and need to stick with it.

9) "Which is your favorite story on Wattpad?"

That’s a tricky one, hehe! I really enjoy a lot of stories on here. I mean, I know I’ll get some hate on this but I really did enjoy After. But there are so many other books besides that one that I love too, too many to name really!

10) "Have you gained any friendship from Wattpad? If yes, which are your Wattpad friends?"

Yes, I have! I’m so lucky to have met such lovely people on here!

I love @babyhoneyangel, @thereyouzayn and @missunderhood! They’ve been so lovely to me!

I’ve met tons of other wonderful people on here too but these three are who I chat with the most!

11) "Do you relate with any of your characters from your books? If yes, which one and which characteristics are similar?"

I find I put at least a little piece of myself in all of my characters. For example, my main character from Lovely Shades of Red, Thea Davids, shares quite a bit of herself with me. We both are quite hard on ourselves, quite self deprecating and self hating at times. We also don’t necessarily trust our own judgement. There’s more to us that is similar but you’ll find that out about her in later books.

I find I’m able to learn from my issues that I put on these characters and try to grow from that. Some things are more difficult than others.

12) "What did you study /are you studying/do you want to study?"

I’m going away to University next year to study English get my degree in English and Creative Writing!

13)" Describe yourself in 3 words."

Shy, empathetic, intelligent (or at least, I’d like to think so lol)

14) "What do you advise new writers?"

Don’t stop writing! If you genuinely enjoy writing, don’t let doubt stop you, don’t let writer’s block stop you and don’t let anything stop you! Writer’s block will come but don’t let it end your writing career. Write what you want to write — something that you enjoy and stick with it.

15)" Questions based on ' Lovely Shades of Red ' :  How were you inspired to write this story?"

Initially it was going to be a very different story from the way it turned out. It was always going to be a thriller but far from what it actually became.

I got the idea from the darkroom at my school. I was in there after class and everyone had left and I wondered what would happen if I got locked in here over night? Then it grew from there!

16)" Who's your favourite character in the book and why? "

I hate to say it but I have a really soft spot for Daniel. I’ve wanted to write a character like him for a long time and never really managed to get it right and I feel like I finally did it. He’s a softy and I love him.

17)"If you were asked to publish your book , would you do it?"

It depends on the offer and what it entailed. I’m currently in the process of self publishing it because I want to have full rights over it and want to have complete control. But, if the offer was right, I might take it.

18)"Which is your favourite a)  funny,  b) dramatic,  c) romantic, d) sad scene in the book?"

a) My favourite funny scene is when Jess and Thea are in their favourite café talking about everything and joking around. Jess has some pretty funny lines in that scene.

b) My favourite dramatic scene is one that I can’t really say without spoiling a lot of the book but it’s between Daniel and Thea and it really pulled at my heart string and made me panic even though I was the one writing it!

c) My favourite romantic scene is the one in the darkroom. Ugh, that’s my favourite explicit scene I’ve ever written or... maybe the one in his studio... I can’t decide.

d) My favourite sad scene is another one that would spoil the book if I told you but it’s towards the end and it broke my heart.

19) " A phrase or a scene that you write and you'll never forget.(and why)"

The phrase that I’ll never forget is probably the main quote from the book, “Red is personal, passionate and full of emotion.” that is my favourite line that I’ve ever written. It just sums up the story really really well and fit perfectly in the scene.

To be honest, I can’t get much of LSOR out of my mind, I loved writing all of the scenes. I love that book with my entire heart.

20) " How much time did it take to plan the whole plot? What kind of difficulties you had to face?"

I’m very much a pantser meaning I just have an idea and a very very vague idea of the scenes I want to write in the beginning, middle and end and then I just write from there.

This story came to me very naturally so it wasn’t hard to write it chapter by chapter. I wrote over half of it and then paused to try to get one of my editors to look at it and give me some feedback before I continued. After a while of not getting feedback from them, I gave up on that and just continued writing it. The only chapters I planned out completely before writing them were the last four or five chapters because I needed to make sure I fit everything in and didn’t forget anything.

I say my biggest difficulty was getting feedback from my beta readers and then finally getting the copy to my real editor. There is always the struggle of having enough time to write amongst other things.

21)" How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?"

I have nearly 50 drafts so there are quite a few half-finished books that I either abandoned or just lost inspiration for. Around 6 of them are completely finished but just kept private.

22) "Any spoilers for future plans?"

I’m currently working on the sequel to LSOR which could very well be a lot longer than the first book! I’m so super excited for everyone who’s been waiting for it to read it!

I also have three other stories that are in the works! I’m very excited!

23) " Choose- 'challenge' two writers that you want to know about to do this interview like you."

I’d love for @babyhoneyangel and @missunderhood to do it!

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

1) " What would be the worst thing for the government to make illegal?"

I mean, I’m not sure... the first thing that came to mind was freedom of speech. Just because I’m a writer that came to mind even though there are far worse things.

2) "What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever worn?"

Gosh, there’s a lot... I used to wear a bright pink tracksuit when I was younger and it was just not cute... I didn’t really care at that point though. I’ve worn a lot of outfits that I now regret.

Thank you so much MaddieEllen !! ❤❤

All the love,
M.